Something to Remember
by Gemini14
Summary: Sort of a prequel fic to 'Unease on the Homefront'. It is just after Kenshin has mastered the ougi, but before Hiko goes to the Oniwabanshu's rescue at the Aoiya. Let me know what ya'll think, okay? in other words, read and review, please!


Something to Remember

He could remember falling to one side, and his world fading to black. That was about all he remembered up until this point. When he opened his eyes, his vision was a blur of light, shadow, and various different colors as his mind struggled to comprehend it all…..Was he dead? Was this the afterlife? It was at this moment that the colors began to coalesce; and vague images, familiar images, began to form.

"_If this is the afterlife, then the Buddha has no imagination whatsoever. This looks exactly like my hut._" Hiko mused, blandly; blinking when the light struck his strangely sensitive eyes, making his head hurt in the process.

"_Maybe this isn't the afterlife, and I am just passed out on my floor from drinking too much sake_……_Damn, if this is a hangover, it's the worst I have ever suffered_….._my whole body hurts!_……_Especially my chest, for some odd reason_….." Hiko thought, as he then tried to get up. He didn't even make it onto his elbows when crippling pain lanced through his chest and left shoulder, forcing him to lie back down.

"_W-what the_………." Hiko's mind yelped, as he gasped painfully for air; bruised and battered lungs reluctant to comply with his brain's urgent commands. For a few moments, he thought he was going to pass out from the pain; then he remembered what he'd been taught about this sort of thing, and tried to calm himself down. Panicking would get him nowhere…..in fact, it would only make things that much worse.

"_All right_…._first thing's first_…._How did I end up in this situation? What happened?_" Hiko wondered, as he tried to get his tired and pain-fogged mind to remember the sequence of events that had led up to this. He could remember quite clearly the days and weeks before; everything was the same until a certain point…..Kenshin had returned!

"_That's right! That Baka Deshi of mine had finally returned! And asking to finish his training, no less!_" Hiko thought, as he looked to his right and saw the bright-haired form of his apprentice. The younger man was leaning against the wall; head propped on his knee and his sakabatou leaned against his shoulder. He could tell that Kenshin was sound asleep, since his breathing was quieter, and his ki was calm. And, as Hiko's vision cleared even more, he could see that the rurouni looked careworn and weary; two signs of stress that even his almost childish features couldn't hide.

"_Something has been bothering him of late; I wonder_….._Wait! Shishio Makoto! That was what made him return here in the first place!_" Hiko's mind shouted, this almost being enough to get him to try and get up again. He stopped himself before his thoughts could become action, however, when the pain in his chest once again made its presence known.

"_There is only one attack that could have done this to me_……_One attack that caused all of this damage_….._but how did I survive it? How did I survive the Amakakeru Ryu no Hirameki?_" Hiko wondered, clenching and unclenching his hands and grimacing as the pain burned through him. Then he remembered; Kenshin had not had a normal katana in hand when the ougi had been passed to him. Instead, he'd had the sakabatou; and that had saved Hiko's life……although by a very narrow margin.

"_Any normal man would have been killed by the impact alone. He'll have to tone it down quite a bit if he expects to have anyone else survive it_……_As it is, it damn near killed even me!_" Hiko mused, the irony certainly not lost on him. Many long years before, he'd passed the same test in order to get the ougi; and it had cost both him and his master dearly.

"_I wonder_….._if I had had a sakabatou that day, would you still be alive, Shishou?_" Hiko sadly thought, as bitter memories returned of that long ago day. He could remember seeing his master's lifeless body on the ground: having almost been cleaved in two by the powerful battoujutsu. But his master's face had been strangely peaceful, almost as though he'd expected to be killed, and had come to terms with that fact before it had happened.

"_I guess I will never know._" Hiko silently concluded, as he sighed and slowly attempted to get up again. He bit back a cry of pain as he moved his top half onto his elbows, and gritted his teeth as he forced himself into a sitting position.

"_Kami-sama, it hurts! Even my training years and the injuries acquired during that time didn't hurt this much!_" Hiko thought, his mind reeling in agony as he wrapped one strong arm about his chest and braced himself with the other. Yet, even amidst the pained ki he knew he was giving off, Kenshin did not stir; so deep in slumber was he.

"_For the best,_….._I suppose_……_But that really_……_doesn't help my situation_……" Hiko thought, sourly, as he struggled to get his breath back without waking the younger swordsman. He knew just what lay ahead for his apprentice, and that the redhead needed as much sleep as he could get.

"_Now_….._to stand without passing out_…." Hiko thought, as he got his feet under him, and stood. He almost regretted it; no sooner was he on his feet again, the pain washed over him afresh. It forced him to reach out and steady himself on the frame of the door, gasping desperately for breath and closing his eyes tightly against it. Still, despite all this, Kenshin did not stir.

"_Sleeping the sleep of the so-called 'just' eh? Sleeping like a dead man is more like it._" Hiko sourly mused, after a few moments, then his gaze softened. He secretly and fervently hoped that his deshi would survive the battles before him.

"_For the Kamiya girl's sake, if nothing else. In some ways, she reminds me of my eldest daughter_….._even the name is the same. Strange, how fate sometimes takes that turn, isn't it?_" Hiko thought, quietly, as he slowly limped over to his medicine cabinet. He could see now how Kenshin had just about turned the hut upside down in order to find it, and that he'd removed the satchel of heart medicine from its place.

"_Must've been what he'd used to dull some of this pain_….._Yet, right now, in this moment of time, it isn't nearly strong enough to numb all of it. It's just barely taking the edge off as it is._" Hiko mentally muttered, sighing as he started taking the herbs he knew he was going to need, in order to make a stronger medicine to help cope with the broken and cracked bones (and this included a severely cracked collarbone as well). As he ground some of the herbs into a fine powder, Hiko mentally uttered some very colorful curses in response to even the slightest of impacts on his arms; the pain from his chest having been amplified to that point. He froze when he heard Kenshin stir slightly and mumble something about bad language, and quieted his ki in order to calm the rurouni.

"_No sense in waking him up with my discomfort. I'll go outside and do this_……" Hiko thought, as he gathered up the herbs again and carefully walked out of the hut. From what he could tell, it was pretty late in the afternoon (almost evening, in fact), and that most of the rainwater puddles had dried.

"_Well, that tells me how long I was out._" Hiko's mind commented, as he went to the place where he'd taught Kenshin the ougi, sat down on a boulder, and started to combine the already ground up herbs into a medicine. But it was only enough for one dose.

"_It will have to do._" Hiko thought, as he tucked the finished medication into his wrist-guard for the moment. It was when he reentered the hut, that he realized what this meant for him, and for Kenshin.

"_I am the first master to ever survive the ougi of Hiten Mitserugi Ryu. There have never been two masters existing at the same time_…._What is to be done now?_" Hiko wondered, as he gazed at the younger swordsman with an almost warm look in his dark eyes. In many ways, this was his son…..And pride and confusion were warring within him. After a few moments, Hiko sighed and shrugged. That decision could wait until his Baka Deshi woke up. Until then, there were some things he wanted to sit down and remember…..while there was still time to do so.

"_I have the feeling I am going to be quite busy for the next couple of days_….._Of course, I will probably have the Baka Deshi to thank for that_….." Hiko mused, with a slight smirk, as he exited the hut once again to find a nice, quiet spot…..since this was something to remember.

**__**

Owari


End file.
